Crowder compares Mekel to Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio, a flashy “Pistol” Pete Maravich-type point guard from Spain. While that comparison may be an exaggeration, Mekel has a very high basketball IQ that will pay dividends down the road for the Mavs.

“Gal is a smart player. He picks up things quick,” said Monte Mathis, the Mavs’ summer league head coach. “I’m just trying to get him to understand our defensive schemes and things like that, and being a guy that causes problems off pick-and-rolls offensively.”

Mekel is 25 years old — an old-timer for an NBA rookie — and could have been in the NBA at an earlier age. He spent the 2006-08 seasons at Wichita State before returning to Israel to play pro ball for Maccabi Tel Aviv way before the NBA fat-cats could get their hands on him.

Dallas Mavericks point guard Gal Mekel recently joined Kevin Arnovitz on True Hoop TV. Here are some highlights from the interview:

On what he needs to improve on to make a difference in Dallas:

“We made the huge journey, but the real work starts now of improving myself and putting my footprint in this league. The transition from the European game to the NBA game is first of all, physicality. It’s a different speed and power. I used to play a lot of pick and rolls in reading situations, which is great for this league with this league for this spacing. I feel I can bring my game even in a better way with this spacing. I need to get used to the 3-point line, which is a little bit further, and work on my 3-point shot. That’s about it. Basketball is basketball. It’s just a new place. Every time you come to a new place, you need to adjust and learn the system, the players and the atmosphere and that’s what I’m going to do.”